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they debased the sovereign with desire (for he was both naturally well-voiced and the sweetest in melodies of the men of that time), then indeed rushing in all at once they missed on their first assault, having been misled towards the chief of the clergy, whether by some resemblance and similarity of body or by a similar covering on the head; for since the time of day was frosty and wintry, both were enduring with a single garment, covering their heads with a very pointed felt cap. But the leader of the clergy pushed away the danger (for having immediately bared his head, he sought his safety with his baldness), but Leo, dragged into the sanctuary, is not saved, but was eager to defend himself. Wherefore, having seized the chain of the censer, or according to some a divine cross, he wished to array himself against his attackers. But they, being many and not attacking one by one, were wounding him, as he was defending himself and repelling the thrusts of their swords with the material of the cross. But he yielded, being struck from all sides like a wild beast, when indeed in despair he saw a certain large and gigantic man bringing on a blow and he beseeched and implored him loudly by an oath of the grace dwelling in the temple; this man came from the family of the Krambonitai. But he, saying "it is not a time for oaths, but for murders," and furthermore having sworn against the divine grace, strikes a blow straight through his arm so manfully that he not only dashed it terribly from the shoulder joint, but also the 40 horn of the cross, being cut, went forth a great distance. And someone also cuts off his head, leaving the body like a mortar. 26 Leo met with such an end of his life in the month of December (and it was the tenth hour of the night), having reigned for seven years and five months, having practiced cruelty, and in addition impiety, if anyone before him had; and with these things he disgraced both the care he had for public affairs and the strength in his hands and his manliness. And it is said that a certain voice broke forth from heaven at that very moment, announcing his downfall to many; and some sailors who heard it, having recorded the time and the night, from a later investigation found it to be true.

{1 CONCERNING THE REIGN OF MICHAEL FROM AMORIUM. BOOK 2.}

1 Having done away with Leo, Michael and his men, as has been shown by us in the treatise before this, dragging his corpse pitilessly and unsparingly through the Skyla gate brought it out into the Hippodrome, having no fear now because the royal court was full of 41 conspirators and plotters. And they also brought out with him his wife along with their four children, Symbatios who was renamed Constantine at his coronation, and Basil and Gregory along with Theodosios; whom they put in a small boat and took away to the island of Prote, where, when the boys had been eunuchized, it happened that Theodosios was unfortunate in respect to his life and shared in the burial of his body with his own father. 2 But Michael, having been brought up from the guardroom of the pappias, still having his feet bound with iron because the key, kept by Leo for the sake of security, was for the time being missing, sat upon the royal throne, and was acclaimed emperor and worshipped by all those who were then in the palace. And now with midday approaching and the report spreading everywhere, when the bonds had with difficulty been broken by a hammer, not having washed his hands, not having taken the fear of God to mind, not having done any other of the necessary things, he came forth to the divine and great temple, desiring to receive the crown from the patriarchal hand and the popular acclamation, those

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παντάνακτος ἐξεφαύλισαν πόθῳ (ην γὰρ φύσει τε ευφωνος καὶ ἐν ταῖς μελῳδίαις τῶν κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ ἀνθρώπων ἡδύτα- τος), τότε δὴ εἰσπηδήσαντες ἀθρόως ἐκ μὲν τῆς πρώτης ἡμάρτα- νον προσβολῆς, πρὸς τὸν τοῦ κλήρου επαρχον ἀποπλανηθέντες, ειτε δή τινι ἐμφερείᾳ καὶ σώματος ὁμοιότητι ειτε κατὰ τὴν κεφα- λὴν ὁμοίᾳ περιβολῇ· κρυμώδους γὰρ ουσης καὶ χειμερίου τῆς ωρας ἑνὶ περιβλήματι ἀμφότεροι διεκαρτέρουν, πίλῳ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὀξυ- τάτῳ περικαλύπτοντες. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν τοῦ κλήρου καθηγεμὼν τὸν κίνδυνον ἀπεώσατο (αὐτίκα γὰρ γυμνώσας τὴν κεφαλὴν τῷ φαλα- κρώματι τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐθήρασεν), ὁ Λέων δὲ τοῖς ἀδύτοις ἐπι- συρεὶς οὐ σώζεται, ἀλλ' ἀμύνασθαι διεσπούδαζεν. οθεν τὴν τοῦ θυμιατηρίου σειρὰν διαρπάσας, η  κατά τινας θεῖον σταυρόν, τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις ἀντιπαρατάττεσθαι ἐβούλετο. ἀλλ' ουτοι πολλοὶ καὶ οὐ καθ' εις ἐπιδραμόντες κατετίτρωσκον, καὶ ως ἀμυνόμενον καὶ τῇ τοῦ σταυροῦ υλῃ τὰς τῶν ξιφῶν ὁρμὰς ἀποπέμποντα. ἀλλ' εκαμεν πάντοθεν ὡς θηρίον βαλλόμενος, οτε δὴ καὶ ἀπογνοὺς ορκῳ τῆς ἐνοικούσης χάριτος ἐν τῷ ναῷ τινὰ εὐμεγέθη καὶ γιγαν- ταῖον ἐπιφέροντα ὁρῶν τὴν πληγὴν ἐδυσώπει καὶ ἐξελιπάρει τρα- νῶς· τῆς ἐκ τῶν Κραμβωνιτῶν ουτος ὡρμᾶτο γενεᾶς. ἀλλ' ογε "οὐχ ορκων" εἰπὼν "ἀλλὰ φόνων καιρός," ετι τε κατὰ τῆς θείας ὀμόσας χάριτος, παίει διανταίαν κατὰ χειρὸς ουτω δὴ ἀνδρικῶς ὡς οὐ μόνον τῆς κλειδὸς ἀπαρράξαι ταύτην δεινῶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ 40 κέρας τοῦ σταυροῦ κοπτόμενον μέχρι πολλοῦ προελθεῖν. συνα- ποτέμνει δέ τις αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν κεφαλήν, ολμου δίκην τὸ σῶμα καταλιπών. 26 Τοιούτῳ μὲν τέλει βίου ὁ Λέων ἐχρήσατο κατὰ τὸν ∆εκέμβριον μῆνα (ωρα δὲ ην δεκάτη τῆς νυκτός), βασιλεύσας ετεσιν ἑπτὰ πρὸς πέντε μησίν, ὠμότητα μὲν ἐξασκήσας, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἀσέβειαν, ειπερ τις τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ· καὶ τούτοις τήν τε προσ- οῦσαν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὰ κοινὰ ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ τὴν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν ἰσχὺν καὶ ἀνδρίαν κατῄσχυνεν. λέγεται δὲ καί τινα φωνὴν οὐρανόθεν αὐθωρὸν ῥαγῆναι, τὴν αὐτοῦ κατάλυσιν εὐαγγελιζομένην πολλοῖς· ης καί τινες ἀκηκοότες ναυτίλοι, τὸν καιρόν τε καὶ τὴν νύκτα ἀπογραψάμενοι, ἐκ τῆς υστερον ἐρεύνης ταύτην ευρον ουσαν ἀληθινήν.

{1ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΣ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΤΟΥ ΕΞ ΑΜΟΡΙΟΥ. ΛΟΓΟΣ Β.}

1 ̓Ανῃρηκότες δὲ τὸν Λέοντα οἱ περὶ τὸν Μιχαήλ, ὡς ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου ἡμῖν δεδήλωται συντάγματι, τὸ τούτου νεκρὸν σύροντες ἀνηλεῶς τε καὶ ἀφειδῶς διὰ τῶν Σκύλων εἰς τὸν ἱππόδρομον ἐξή- γαγον, μή τινα φόβον εχοντες ηδη διὰ τὸ πλήρη ειναι τῶν ἐπι- 41 βούλων καὶ συνωμοτῶν τὴν βασίλειον αὐλήν. συνεξέφερον· δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ γαμετὴν σὺν τέτταρσι τέκνοις αὐτῶν, Συμ- βατίῳ τῷ κατὰ στέψιμον μετονομασθέντι Κωνσταντίνῳ, Βασι- λείῳ τε καὶ Γρηγορίῳ αμα Θεοδοσίῳ· ους καὶ ἀκατίῳ ἐνθέντες πρὸς τὴν Πρώτην νῆσον ἀπήγαγον, ενθα καὶ τῶν παίδων εὐνου- χισθέντων τὸν Θεοδόσιον συνέβη δυστυχῆσαι περὶ τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος ταφῆς τῷ ἰδίῳ κεκοινωνηκέναι πατρί. 2 ̔Ο δὲ Μιχαὴλ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ παππίου φρουρᾶς ἀνενεχθείς, ετι τοὺς πόδας σιδήρῳ δεδεμένους εχων διὰ τὸ τὴν κλεῖν παρὰ τοῦ Λέοντος φυλαττομένην ἀσφαλείας ενεκεν τέως ειναι ἀφανῆ, ἐπὶ τὸν βασίλειον ἐκάθισεν θρόνον, καὶ παρὰ πάντων τῶν τέως οντων ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ προσεκυνήθη αὐτοκράτωρ ἀναγορευθείς. ηδη δὲ μεσούσης ἡμέρας τῆς φήμης πανταχοῦ διαδραμούσης, τῶν δεσμῶν σφύρᾳ θλασθέντων μόλις, οὐ χεῖρας ἀπονιψάμενος, οὐ τὸν θεῖον φόβον κατὰ νοῦν εἰληφώς, οὐκ αλλο οὐδὲν τῶν δεόντων ποιήσας, πρὸς τὸν θεῖον καὶ μέγαν ναὸν προελήλυθεν τοῦ στέφους ἐκ τῆς πατριαρχικῆς χειρὸς καὶ τῆς πανδήμου τυχεῖν ἐπιθυμῶν ἀναρρή- σεως, ἐκείνους